A petition had alleged that restaurants charge VAT and service tax on the entire amount of the bill

The Delhi high court on Monday asked the Delhi government, the central finance ministry and other central tax agencies to respond to a petition claiming that restaurants were charging excess value added tax and service tax.

A bench comprising chief justice G. Rohini and justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal asked the two governments as well as the commissioner of value added taxes, the central board of excise and customs and the chief commissioner of service commission to place their responses before the court within 4 weeks.The court will hear the case next on 7 December.

The petition, filed by two lawyers—Anish Agarwal and Avi Tandon—claims that restaurants are charging taxes in excess of what is prescribed under law.

On Monday, the petitioners asked the court to issue an interim order in the case. The court declined to do so.The petitioners had alleged that restaurants charge VAT and service tax on the entire amount of the bill. The two lawyers claimed that they had approached the relevant tax authorities regarding this issue and did not receive any response from them.